"The agony of being burned alive is unimaginable, and for those who survive this
brutal assaults, the pain continues for a lifetime. In India, the burden of this insidious
act unfortunately falls primarily on women who are often attacked by their husbands. For
survivors, life is dramatically different than before the assault. They are scarred and
disfigured, sometimes beyond recognition. They are even singled out for differential
treatment and are sometimes even belived to hold evil supernatural powers. They are the
victims of stigma.

When a woman is burned, the attack is only the beginning of a long and painful journey
through life. Following the physical pain of the burns, the surgeries, and the subsequent
scarring, comes the worst part: living with disfigurement.

This study attempts to make sociological sense of the stories of Indian women who have
been attacked with fire by their husbands. The data show that after women are attacked by
kerosene-laced fire they experience two more traumas in their lives. First,
"society" changes their identities. They are no longer "a woman"; they
are transformed into a "burned women". Second, because that identity change is
dramatic and permanent, disfigured women to varying degrees are socially excommunicated
and treated as pariahs. The present study seeks to determine how and why disfigurement
stigma happens in India and the consequences of that stigma on the lives of burned
women."
[from
Blurb]

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